Third Sunday of Advent

Gospel                                                                               Luke 3:10-18

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

The messenger and the message are the focus of this Sunday in Advent

A man I knew who had a serious alcohol problem, and was quite notorious, got a wakeup call from his doctor. He said 'if you do not stop drinking now, you will cause irreversible liver damage, and you will have a short time to live.’ He had a choice, not an easy one, but he choose to live without alcohol for the first time in his adult life. [He became quite adept at computers as a substitute for that empty time.] But he is alive. He could have chosen to criticise or ignore his doctor and seek a second opinion! It was a case of change – or else. Fear was the motivator.

WHO AND WHAT AND WHY - Who are the messengers in my life and what is the message I need it hear? WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE IN MY LIFE? WHY must I change?

WHO is John and what is his role?

John the Baptist makes it quite clear that there must be change in our lives - A change of heart is called for.

Someone who tells us bad news we would rather not to hear even and especially if it is the truth, someone who criticises us...we would rather criticise them and accuse them of their so called higher moral ground. IT IS EASY TO SHOOT THE MESSENGER.

 

'A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people'

The Baptist is as it were a rabble-rouser - a supporting act at a concert we may not remember afterwards. But what does a supporting act do but gets the crowd settled, ready, prepared, in the right frame of mind, and we might say to ourselves well I didn't come to see this act but he or she reminds me that the main act is going to be so good. There is an air of expectancy and excitement and enthusiasm and a heightened receptivity when the main act appears. Political parties do the same here and in America at a convention or ard fheis- in other words, someone who is a good orator, who starts from scratch and who ends with the crowd ready to be on their feet when the party leader appears.

John is all these things, and every year in the Advent season. We are to honour him and his message with these two Sundays of his message the approaching Messiah and the readiness for his coming

WHAT

THE NEED FOR CHANGE - WE WILL ONLY CHANGE WHEN THE COST OF CHANGE IS LESS THAN THE COST OF NOT CHANGING. OR PUT ANOTHER WAY WHEN THE PAIN OF NOT CHANGING IS GREATER THAN THE PAIN OF CHANGE.

Four simple words for all of us today are: WHAT MUST WE DO?

Who needs to change? I do.  What needs to change in my life?

IT REQUIRES EFFORT TO CHANGE FOR THE BETTER PHYSICALLY AND THAT INVOLVES A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SHORT TERM PAIN BUT LONG TERM GAIN. WE NEED THE RIGHT MOTIVATION AND THE RIGHT MOTIVATOR WITHIN AND WITHOUT.

WHY?
 Am I ready? If you have visitors coming for Christmas day or St Stephens’s day then you are thinking already of having the house ready and enough food to be cooked and what needs to be bought.  Certain things must be tidied up; we can no longer put certain household tasks on the long finger. Change of layout and lie of the land in the house furniture, tables etc this is a temporary change and layout however but God is looking for more permanent change and not a seasonal one.

But it is easy to lose sight of the real visitor - Christ. Let us get ready for him by a change of heart.

To sum up we need to ask ourselves two questions

1.   What are the implications of not changing?

2.   WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT CHANGING NOW?

'His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’

Wheat in God's house implies salvation, whereas the chaff to be burnt implies eternal damnation It is necessary for us to amend our lives now

THIS MEANS A CHANGE OF HEART: AND THIS HAS PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS IN DAILY LIFE WITH ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES IN THE NEXT

WITH THE PHARISEES AND THE ROMANS AND TAX COLLECTORS AND SOLDIERS AND THE PEOPLE AT LARGE THERE WAS A DESIRE AND AN OPENNESS TO SEEK A NEW DIRECTION TO LIVE AND UNDERGO A CHANGE : John’s  is  a call to restorative justice:

*From avarice to generosity

*From selfish hoarding to sharing with the hungry from our excess

*Contentment with our pay and just taxation, without extortion

We must repent - and undergo a change of heart that involves justice, charity and almsgiving from a generous heart. Lives must change.

Why? Christ is coming with his reward to sum up so we must repent and live just and generous lives to be worthy of a place in God’s kingdom

 

‘What about us? What must we do?’ BECOMES what about me? what must I do?